Thailand: PTTEP Marks 123 pct Increase of Net Profit in 3rd Quarter

Mr. Tevin Vongvanich, the President and CEO of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited or PTTEP disclosed the PTTEP 3rd Quarter Operating Results and the company performance as the detail below:

3rd Quarter Operating Results: Net profit of USD 558 million, increases 123 %

The company and its subsidiaries posted a net profit of USD 558 million (equivalent to 17,526 million baht), an increase of USD 308 million or 123% compared to its net profit of USD 250 million (equivalent to 7,733 million baht) posted in the previous quarter this year. The third quarter operating result of PTTEP and its subsidiaries includes recurring net profit of USD 506 million and non-recurring net profit of USD 52 million.

In this quarter, the total revenue of PTTEP and its subsidiaries was USD 1,820 million or equivalent to 57,083 million baht, an increase of USD 153 million or 9% compared to the revenue of USD 1,667 million or equivalent to 52,164 million baht, posted in the 2st quarter of this year. This increase was the result of a higher average of sales volume of 3rd quarter to 292,228 barrel of oil equivalent per day (BOED) compared with 263,441 BOED in the previous quarter. The increase of sales volume was the result of Greater Bongkot South’s production start up as required by the Gas Sales Agreement in June 2012. Sales volume of natural gas and condensate of Greater Bongkot North also increased resulting from no production shutdown in the third quarter of 2012. Moreover, Crude oil sales volume increased from Vietnam 16-1 project.

The 9-month period of 2012 Operating Results: Net profit of USD 1,397 million, increases 43 %

The results of operations for the first nine months of 2012, PTTEP and its subsidiaries’ totaled a net profit of USD 1,397 million or equivalent to 43,548 million baht, an increase of USD 418 million or 43% compared with the same period of 2011’s net profit of USD 979 million or equivalent to 29,599 million baht. The increase was the result of higher average petroleum sales price for the nine months of 2012, which rose to USD 64.30 per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) brought about by higher world market prices against that of the nine months of 2011 when the price was USD 53.68 per BOE.

For the first nine months of 2012, the sales volume of petroleum is 269,776 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOED) against the same period last year which rested at 269,831 BOED.

As of September 30, 2012, PTTEP and subsidiaries had total assets of USD 17,258 million (equivalent to 532,061 million baht), an increase of USD 3,127 million higher than the total in hand at the end of 2011 at which point total assets were USD 14,131 million (447,842 million baht).

PTTEP Performance following the business strategic can be summarized by main projects as follow:

Exploration: PTTEP Australasia project has found natural gas while the drilling of appraisal well, Maple-2, in the Cash Maple field since July 2012. Currently, the company is assessing the commercial viability of the project. For Algeria Hassi Bir Rekaiz Project has successful discovery of crude oil while drilling of the fourth and fifth wells. Moreover, Myanmar M3 and M11 Project is preparing for the drilling of appraisal wells in M3 block and an exploration well in M11 block.

Development: The development of Montara is on progress. The project has received operation safety case approval. Production is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2013. Montara prosecution with the Australian government was ended and PTTEPAA paid a totaling of 510,000 AUD fine. However, the claim that was submitted by the Government of Indonesia for compensation due to the Montara incident, PTTEP is continuously assessing the case with the government to prove with scientific evidences in order to determine whether there is any the impact. More than 38 percent of construction work of Zawtika Project has been completed.

Production: The performance of Bongkot project: Greater Bongkot South field began producing natural gas at the level specified in the the Daily Contractual Quantity (DCQ) in June 2012. This production rates will increase overall both Bongkot North and Bongkot South production capacity to approximately 900 MMSCFD. Average bitumen production for the Leismer area from Canada Oil Sands KKD project in the third quarter was approximately 16,300 BPD. The production capacity of crude oil of Oman 44 Project has more than tripled and the project is expected to reach a production level of 5,000 BPD. This additional production is a result of a successful drilling campaign of 7 development and appraisal wells during 2011-2012 of its project. The Vietnam 16-1 project has successfully started production of the second wellhead platform of Te Giac Trang field. As a result, the project increased its production of crude oil from 41,000 BPD to approximately 55,000 BPD.

Offer for Cove Energy Plc.

PTTEP Africa Investment Limited (PTTEP AI) has fulfilled all conditions to acquire Cove shares and request for Cove to apply to the London Stock Exchange for the cancellation of trading in Cove Shares on Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on August 17, 2012.

PTTEP’s Capital Increase

On 27 September 2012, The Board of Directors of PTTEP unanimously approved the issuance of up to 650 million new ordinary shares via preferential public offering. The new shares will be offered and allocated to all eligible existing shareholders whose names appear in the share register book as of November 12, 2012. The last day on which investors may purchase PTTEP’s ordinary shares on the exchange and still be entitled to subscribe for new ordinary shares is November 7, 2012. The capital increase and the proposed Offering are subject to approval by the Company’s extraordinary shareholders’ meeting scheduled for October 29, 2012, at 14.30 hours, at the Bangkok Convention Center, 5th Floor, Central Plaza Ladprao.

The final offering price will be the same to all subscribers and will be determined via a bookbuilding method to help achieve a market-driven offering price. PTT, as the majority shareholder of PTTEP, will not participate in the bookbuilding.

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Press Release, October 26, 2012